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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534989">White Lies And Broken Promises</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabyU07/pseuds/GabyU07'>GabyU07</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol, Anbu Uchiha Sasuke, Anbu Uzumaki Naruto, Blood and Injury, Gen, Protective Haruno Sakura, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Protective Uzumaki Naruto, alcohol consumption, more like overprotective</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:13:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,726</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534989</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabyU07/pseuds/GabyU07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke and Naruto kept blaming themselves on their own way, beating themselves for allowing Sakura to get injured right under their noses, but at the same time both were making a silent promise: </p>
<p>“This won’t happen again, even if I have to give my life for it”.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haruno Sakura &amp; Uchiha Sasuke &amp; Uzumaki Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Beginning of The End</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello again! This is my first attempt to write some sort of multi chapter story so let’s see how it goes. </p>
<p>Lately I’ve read many wonderful and incredible fanfics that I just got inspired to give it a try.</p>
<p>All opinions and reviews are very welcome because they help me to improve so don’t be afraid to tell me what you think!</p>
<p>Ps: The tags and warnings will change with upcoming chapters.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sakura was currently in her office at the hospital, taking small sips from her cup of tea, trying her best to calm a little and ignore the ever present foreboding that things might turn horrible for her that day. </p>
<p>“Everything is fine, they will arrive at any moment safe and sound” She repeated to herself like a mantra. </p>
<p>Naruto and Sasuke had become ANBU two years ago, and even when she wasn’t happy with the idea, she respected their decisions. Don’t get her wrong, this was mostly because Kakashi gave them missions difficult enough for their abilities but always something they could easily handle despite the reputation of ANBU missions, meaning there was no solo missions, not absurdly-impossible-to-do-without-dying missions and things of the sort, so she was fine with it...most of the time, and just because it was uncommon for them to get hurt.</p>
<p>In the present day everyone knew they were among the most powerful shinobi of all nations, if they were not the most powerful actually, so they were good, stupidly good at what they did, and it was rare to see them at the hospital for something more than chakra exhaustion when their missions got longer than expected or they took too many in a short time. Being who she was, she always chastised them for this but since it happened once every few months, she just let it pass. </p>
<p>Now the situation had changed: they were visiting the hospital more often and not just because they wanted to see her. In the last three months, they had been at the hospital 5 times, and that would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that’s the total number of times they would usually go there, but in a whole year. These few times they have arrived considerably injured, not at the verge of death, but pretty serious when you considered it was them. Most of the time these visits were because of Sasuke, being that Naruto had the Kyubi healing most of the most severe injuries, but regardless of that, both were always in need of medical treatment. </p>
<p>Since this started happening, it was now usual for Sakura to be left feeling anxious and worried with every mission they took, fearing one of those times they would arrive too late for her to be able to do something or wouldn’t arrive at all. </p>
<p>She pushed away those gloomy thoughts and began to work on her paperwork again. A few minutes into it and the sound of a voice in the speaker reached her ears.</p>
<p>“Haruno-san please report immediately to the emergency room”.</p>
<p>Her chest tightened but she got up quickly from her desk and got out of her office. She wanted to run to the emergency room because it could be them, but she figured she needed to maintain her composure if she wasn’t sure just yet. When she was mid way to it, a nurse reached her, panting slightly. </p>
<p>“Sakura-san, it’s Naruto and Sasuke-“.</p>
<p>Her heart stopped. </p>
<p>“Are they...?” She mumbled.</p>
<p>“No no, but they are not looking good and we don’t know what’s happening. We need your help” She said hurriedly.</p>
<p>At this, they both started running to the emergency room, while Sakura did her best to try to calm her trembling hands and heartbeat. Once they arrived, she saw many nurses trying to hold down Sasuke and Naruto, who were writhing, to their stretchers. As she walked to them, she took a good look at their appearances: they were bruised and had a few cuts here and there, on their bare chest they had a couple stab wounds which were bleeding profusely but nothing they couldn’t fix, so why were they so concerned?.</p>
<p>“What’s happening?” She asked putting on a pair of gloves. </p>
<p>Shizune was there, trying to grab a hold on Naruto but failing quite miserably. She looked at Sakura with a look of pure terror, and the later paled.</p>
<p>“I-I don’t know, they arrived here on their own, pretty wounded but relatively well and talking” She explained. “But as soon as we started treating their injuries, they began to scream and writhe and...”</p>
<p>She stopped talking, trying to do something to Naruto but she didn’t even know were to start. Her hands began to glow green again and hovered them above his chest, but as soon as she started pumping her chakra into the blond, he let out an ear piercing scream. </p>
<p>“Stop stop!” She said quickly.</p>
<p>She hurried there but halted when Sasuke screamed to her other side. She turned and saw another medic trying to heal his wounds with chakra. ‘<em>What the hell is happening?’</em> She thought desperately and then something came to mind. </p>
<p>“Stop, everyone STOP” She shouted and everyone ceased what they were doing.</p>
<p>As soon as they stopped, the two men laying on the gurneys calmed down a little. ‘<em>Okay I need to think, to think of something and fast’ </em>she hurried herself. First, they arrived to the hospital on their own, wounded but without this horrible pain. <em>‘Wait, wounded. Naruto has wounds and he’s supposed to be-‘</em></p>
<p>“Isn’t Naruto healing himself?” She asked to no one in particular. </p>
<p>“When they arrived, Naruto-san said he wasn’t healing and he didn’t know why” A nurse beside the blond answered her.</p>
<p>‘<em>Okay, no good, he isn’t healing. Keep thinking’. </em>Second, as soon as they started treating their wounds with chakra they began to feel pain. ‘<em>Chakra...could it be possible...?’</em> She questioned herself as she got closer to Sasuke with her hand glowing green.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry...” She whispered to him before pumping a little chakra into a wound on his chest.</p>
<p>He screamed in pain and began to writhe again harder. She stopped. ‘<em>Whatever this is, it reacts to foreign chakra’</em> she mused in her head. </p>
<p>“Someone quickly take blood samples of both of them” She ordered the nurses.</p>
<p>“Why?” Shizune questioned.</p>
<p>“I think they were...” She trailed off.</p>
<p>Sakura’s hand began to glow green again but she limited it to hover it above Sasuke, running a quick diagnosis. She noticed a strange substance spreading slowly not only through their veins but also contaminating their chakra, it was very subtle but it was there.</p>
<p>“Poisoned” She mumbled more to herself.</p>
<p>“What? Poisoned?” Shizune asked having hearing her and scowled. “But they don’t show any signs”.</p>
<p>“It’s a small quantity but it’s there...still, you’re right, they don’t show any signs and it’s unlikely for it to be causing this but-” She shut her mouth as a thought came in.</p>
<p>She went to Naruto now, her hands glowing green and hovering them above the now unconscious man. She then looked at the medic in front of her.</p>
<p>“Shizune, pump a little chakra into Naruto, but just a little and stop if I say so please”.</p>
<p>Shizune hesitated. “Okay”.</p>
<p>She did as she was told and as soon as she began pumping her chakra into Naruto, he began to writhe and scream just like Sasuke before. While this happened, Sakura felt how the small amount of the strange substance that was in Naruto’s bloodstream as well as mixing with his chakra, quickly augmented its quantity when it made contact with the foreign chakra, also spreading faster through his veins and chakra system. </p>
<p>“Stop!” She nearly yelled at the black haired woman and she did so. “This is-this is bad”.</p>
<p>“Did you figure it out? What is it?” Shizune questioned her worriedly.</p>
<p>“I’ve never seen something like this before. They were poisoned with something that reacts to foreign chakra, that’s why they were fine when they arrived here, and every time we try to heal them with our chakras, we just duplicate the amount and speed of the poison, it also seems to have a dual effect because it’s not only damaging their body but making their own chakra toxic” She said stunned by her discovery, giving a few steps back. “Finally, I’m sure they were given some chakra suppressant so Naruto couldn’t heal and they both would be weak enough to get the poison into them”.</p>
<p>“It could have been through any of these stab wounds and cuts. It’s not the first time someone poison their weapons” Shizune said clearly angry at her own statement.</p>
<p>“That’s most likely” Sakura said absently, still thinking about what to do.</p>
<p>“But what do we do? If what you are saying it’s true then we will kill them if we heal them with our chakra or try to extract the poison, and if we don’t, they will die anyway when the poison reaches their hearts” The black haired medic said seriously.</p>
<p>“I-I’m not sure..” She stuttered, terrified.</p>
<p>Shizune and the other medic treating Sasuke began to scan both men. After a moment, she looked at Sakura.</p>
<p>“Sakura, we don’t have much time. The poison will reach their hearts in matter of minutes and they are beginning to show signs of poisoning”.</p>
<p>Sakura reached to Naruto and then went to Sasuke. Both of them were burning with fever and had a thin layer of sweat covering their body, their breathing was fast and shallow and she just knew they didn’t have much time. She needed to do something and fast. She ran her fingers through her hair, thinking of something, anything, when thank Kami an idea enlightened her.</p>
<p>“It’s risky” She mumbled looking at her boys.</p>
<p>“What? What did you think?” Shizune asked, desperation lingering in her voice.</p>
<p>“I can use my chakra to directly eliminate the poison from their body” She explained without looking at her.</p>
<p>“But won’t that only accelerate the process of spreading? Because you will use your chakra on them” Shizune asked confused. </p>
<p>“Yes I will but instead of just making it circulate to get the poison out, I will use it to basically burn it out instantly on their bloodstream and chakra system. If I do it fast enough and with the right amount of intensity, I think I can pull this off but..it will hurt them an-and I’m not sure it will work” She said looking at Shizune with trembling hands.</p>
<p>The black haired woman seemed to consider it for a moment, then she looked at Sakura with determination.</p>
<p>“It’s the best shot we have, we don’t have any other option and it’s best to try something rather than doing nothing”.</p>
<p>“Okay” Sakura nodded to herself. </p>
<p>The pink haired medic positioned herself on Naruto’s side and placed both hands above a stab wound on his chest. She took a deep breath. ‘<em>Please kami, let it work, I beg you’ </em>she pleaded silently and then bumped all the chakra she was able to gather as fast as she could. Naruto began to scream and writhe against her but she stayed glued to her task. Four nurses had to hold onto each of Naruto’s limbs to keep him for hitting Sakura. </p>
<p>After what felt like a year but in reality was only a minute, Naruto went limp and she felt the panic creeping up her throat. <em>‘I killed him’</em> she thought the worse as she pulled her hands away from him and took a step back, afraid of checking him up. Shizune on his other side, hurried to feel his pulse and scan him. When Sakura was about to lose it, she spoke.</p>
<p>“He’s fine” She smiled at the girl, trying to soothe her. “The poison did a number on his system and he needs blood but there’s no poison in him anymore, we can work on him now”.</p>
<p>“Sakura-san! Sasuke-san he’s-“ A nurse called her.</p>
<p>‘<em>Oh kami, Sasuke-kun!’ </em>She thought, hurrying to his side. He was pale and his breathing as well as his heartbeat was irregular. The poison was reaching his heart. She had to hurry.</p>
<p>“Hold him tight” She ordered to the nurses.</p>
<p>She was tired, doing this on Naruto was more exhausting than she initially thought but she didn’t care, this was Sasuke, <em>her</em> Sasuke and like hell she would just let him die. She placed both hands on a wound on his chest and let out all the chakra she had left in a massive torrent. Sasuke’s screams and writhing made her wince but she stayed put, and after a minute, he went limp. She saw a medic checking his pulse and scanning him.</p>
<p>“He’s fine Sakura-san!” The medic said to her happily but she barely listened.</p>
<p>Her world was spinning mercilessly and soon the ceiling became the floor when her eyes went to the back of her head and she fainted, summing herself in pitch black. </p>
<hr/>
<p>When consciousness came back to her, she sat up startled.</p>
<p>“Sasuke, Naruto!” She called them.</p>
<p>She felt a hand on her chest, pushing her again to lay down on...a bed? No, that wasn’t a bed, it was gurney. </p>
<p>‘<em>Oh</em>’.</p>
<p>“I think you just figured what happened right?” A feminine voice said to her side. </p>
<p>“Shishou” Sakura said, turning her head to the blond medic.</p>
<p>“What you did was totally reckless, you could have killed them, not to mention you could have died too by depleting your chakra like that” She chastised the young girl. “But still...you saved them and I’m not sure anyone else could have pulled that off”.</p>
<p>“I had to Shishou, you know I couldn’t just let them die, I love them too much” She said closing her eyes.</p>
<p>“I know that, Sakura, and I truly hope that doesn’t kill you one day” She shook her head at her former apprentice. </p>
<p>“How are they?” Sakura asked worriedly.</p>
<p>“They are actually waiting for you” Tsunade informed her.</p>
<p>“Really? But I thought-“ She said frowning.</p>
<p>“Shizune told me that after you eradicated the poison from their bodies, that allowed them to easily use their chakra to work on them and heal all the wounds and damage the poison caused, something that took for around an hour” Tsunade explained to her. </p>
<p>“Oh, okay” She said relieved.</p>
<p>“They are good as new and as you may guess, they are refusing to leave without seeing you” The blond rolled her eyes. </p>
<p>“Thank you Shishou” She smiled, and then frowned as a thought came. “Did Shizune tell you about the poison?”.</p>
<p>“Yes, and just like you, I never saw something like that before. We’ll have to analyze it and see if we can develop an antidote” Tsunade pursed her lips in clear concern.</p>
<p>“I’ll do it, that thing nearly killed them and I’m not going to risk for it to happen a second time” Sakura said, sitting again. </p>
<p>“Very well, you’re in charge of that then” Tsunade said getting up from her chair. </p>
<p>“Hai, Tsunade-sama” Sakura nodded.</p>
<p>“I’ll leave you to them. Take care Sakura” She said before disappearing through the door.</p>
<p>She had just managed to get up from the gurney and dust off her clothes, when someone engulfed her in a tight hug. </p>
<p>“Sakura-chan! Are you okay?” Naruto asked worriedly, his face buried in her hair.</p>
<p>Sakura giggled. “Asks the one who got poisoned and nearly died a few hours ago”.</p>
<p>She pulled away and saw her two boys standing in front of her, very much alive. She felt a complete relief wash over her. They were wearing white hospital shirts and the bottom part of their uniform, which was still somewhat dirty and bloodied, confirming what Tsunade told her about them refusing to leave before getting to see her. She shook her head and hugged them both.</p>
<p>“You scared me to death, I thought for a moment I had lost you both” She admitted, hugging them tighter before pulling away. </p>
<p>“They told us what you did. That was stupid” Sasuke said flatly but Sakura could see the hint of fret he felt.</p>
<p>“Is that your way of saying you were worried Sasuke-kun?” She teased him.</p>
<p>Sasuke rolled his eyes. “I’m serious Sakura, you could’ve died”.</p>
<p>“If I didn’t do anything, <em>you</em> could’ve died” She retorted crossing her arms. </p>
<p>They both glared at each other in a silent battle. Then she sighed, looking away. </p>
<p>“I don’t care, you both know I won’t just let you die so you’ll have to live with that” She stated stubbornly.</p>
<p>“Annoying” Sasuke mumbled under his breath and turned away.</p>
<p>Sakura just rolled her eyes and went to hug her blond boy again. He enveloped her with his arms instantly.</p>
<p>“How on earth did you two managed to get poisoned?” She asked, her voice a little muffled because of his shirt.</p>
<p>“We were around an hour away from the village when a group ambushed us. I think they studied us for a while because they were familiar with our fighting style so we couldn’t get rid of them fast enough” Sasuke said looking at her and Naruto.</p>
<p>She pulled away from Naruto. “But how did they get so close to you to inject you with the chakra suppressant?”.</p>
<p>“They didn’t, they threw senbons at us” Naruto scrunched his nose. “At least that’s how I think it happened because we couldn’t use our chakra after that”.</p>
<p>“And then I’m guessing they tired you off enough to cut you with the poisoned blades...” She said and both nodded at her. “Did you get to see who they were?”.</p>
<p>“They were common missing-nin, nothing out of the ordinary” Sasuke said dismissively.</p>
<p>“That poison, the chakra suppressant and the fact they knew how you both fight, is the contrary of ordinary” She quirked an eyebrow. “But I guess they’re just getting better. Either way, you’ll need to be more careful from now on”.</p>
<p>“We’re always careful Sakura-chan” Naruto gave her a shit eating grin.</p>
<p>“Sure, and today is the very proof of that right?” She asked sarcastically.</p>
<p>“That doesn’t count!” Naruto pouted.</p>
<p>Sakura sighed. “I’m being serious here guys, you need to be more careful and you know why”.</p>
<p>“Hn”.</p>
<p>“No, don’t give me any ‘hns’ Sasuke, you know what I mean” She said glaring at the Uchiha. </p>
<p>“No” He deadpanned.</p>
<p>“You have been in this hospital 6 times counting today during the last 3 months” She stated. “You had never got this injured before in such a short time”.</p>
<p>“It had to happen at some point Sakura-chan, besides, now we’re having so much more fun with opponents who can actually give us a fight” Naruto joked.</p>
<p>“Naruto...” She trailed off, irritated by the bad sense of humor.</p>
<p>“We’ll be alright Sakura, you know we are capable” Sasuke said getting closer to her.</p>
<p>“I know! I just...” Sakura shook her head and stared at her feet. “Can you both do something for me?”.</p>
<p>“What?” Sasuke inquired.</p>
<p>She raised her head to look at both. “Would you come and see me after every mission? Just so I know you’re okay and arrived well”.</p>
<p>“But we’re always okay and we usually go and see you some time later after we arrive” Naruto scratched the back of his neck.</p>
<p>“It’s not the same. I want you to come to me just after you report to Kakashi” She fidgeted, giving them big puppy eyes. “<em>Please</em>?”.</p>
<p>Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto sighed. ‘<em>Damn her’</em> they thought. They just couldn’t say no to her.</p>
<p>“Fine” Sasuke huffed.</p>
<p>“Alright Sakura-chan” Naruto consented.</p>
<p>“Love you both” She jumped to them and hugged them again. “Come on, let’s go and eat something”.</p>
<p>She pulled away and began to walk out of the room. </p>
<p>“Can we go to Ichiraku??” Naruto asked, following her close.</p>
<p>“Idiots” Sasuke muttered.</p>
<p>He shook his head and stood there for a second before trailing after his two best friends. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Intoxicated Nightmares</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sky was blue, the sun was shining above, people were smiling on the streets and even the birds were chirping happily on the branches outside her office’s window. It was a beautiful day, a <em>disgustingly</em> beautiful day and Sakura was starting to get sick of it by the second. </p>
<p>
  <em>‘Fuck it, I’m not waiting any more time’.</em>
</p>
<p>With this in mind, she got up from her desk and made her way towards the Hokage’s tower. At this point she was starting to lose it because this was so unlike them. It was usual for Sasuke and Naruto to finish their missions with time to spare, not the other way around, and today would be two days of delay in their arrival. ‘<em>Something is wrong, something must have happened again’ </em>her mind kept telling her from the moment they didn’t show up to her doorstep, like they promised they would after every mission. </p>
<p>So of course, when they didn’t come to her the day they were supposed to arrive, her mind provided her of every possible colorful scenery of them dying horrible deaths. The first day she forced herself to believe it was just a small delay, they probably just stopped at some point to sleep or eat or whatever. Today however, the only thing she could think of was that they were dead somewhere, their corpses being torn apart by animals or by the ones who murdered them, their skin a sickening greenish color with-</p>
<p>‘<em>Kami, calm the fuck down Sakura’</em> she told herself shaking off all those gloomy thoughts. These were Naruto and Sasuke, the Kyubi vessel and the last Uchiha, they weren’t some naive genin, they had to be okay.</p>
<p>As soon as she arrived at her destination, she hurried into the Hokage’s office, not really paying any attention to the stationary ANBU guarding the door. This of course, was one of the perks of the fact that the current Hokage was her former sensei. Once she closed the door behind her, she went to his desk, slamming both hands on the top of it, making the man behind it to lift his gaze to look at her. </p>
<p>“We need to send a search party, <em>right now</em>”. Concern dripping out of her voice. </p>
<p>Kakashi just stared at her, taking in what just happened. It wasn’t as if this didn’t happen before, since it was quite usual for his former students to be quite...dramatic. However, this time, he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. </p>
<p>“Sakura-chan” He greeted calmly. “A search party for <em>who</em>?”.</p>
<p>“What do you mean for who?!” She asked exasperated. “For Sasuke and Naruto of course, who else??”.</p>
<p>Kakashi stared blankly at her but didn’t say a word.</p>
<p>“They should be here by now Kakashi! It’s been two days”.</p>
<p>Being a part of Team 7 and the current Hokage of course, he knew about the promise Sakura made both boys make so it took him a second to gather his thoughts to give her an answer. Kakashi blinked once, twice, before speaking. </p>
<p>“Sakura...what are you talking about? They arrived here on time, two days ago” He said matter of factly.</p>
<p>In that moment she felt the floor beneath her feet being taken away. ‘<em>They have been here the entire time and haven’t gone to see me?’.</em> Her mind went from hurt, to sadness, to anger and lastly to concern again. </p>
<p>“What?” She managed to mumble.</p>
<p>“They came to my office two days ago and gave their report. The mission went well and nothing out of the ordinary happened”.</p>
<p>“I-I see” She stuttered, looking away. </p>
<p>“Didn’t they go to see you?” He inquired, now worried.</p>
<p>“No, they didn’t. Thank you Kakashi-Sensei”.</p>
<p>With that, she turned on her heels and walked out of the office, leaving Kakashi with his mouth open in a silent call and with no time to talk to her more. </p>
<hr/>
<p>Upon getting out of the tower, the first thing she had to do was to calm herself because her vision was blurring and she was feeling the urge to cry. </p>
<p>
  <em>‘Get it together Sakura, you won’t solve anything by crying’.</em>
</p>
<p>She began to breath slowly until her vision went back to normal and her breathing became even. Good, now the next thing was to look for them. The first place she would need to go was obviously their places, they had to be there because they were probably hurt and that’s why they couldn’t reach her...</p>
<p>
  <em>‘No, that’s not it, Kakashi-Sensei didn’t say anything about them being hurt when they reported to him’.</em>
</p>
<p>Okay, maybe they weren’t hurt but they were tired and they just needed to rest for two days straight...</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Yeah, sure, because they’re bears or something like that idiot’.</em>
</p>
<p>Deciding that was enough rambling going on inside her head, she made her way to their apartments. The three of them had spare keys of each other’s places in case of emergencies, so she went to Naruto’s apartment first. Once she got in, it was empty, no sign of Naruto or Sasuke. <em>‘Maybe they just stayed at Sasuke’s place’</em> she thought trying to soothe her mind. Then she went to Sasuke’s apartment and just like Naruto’s, it was completely desolated like no one had touched the place in days. She felt her hope shattering. </p>
<p>‘<em>Where are they?’.</em></p>
<p>She began to walk aimlessly, thinking about where to go next when she bumped into Sai, who looked at her with curiosity. </p>
<p>“Oh I’m sorry Sai” She apologized absently.</p>
<p>“Sakura, are you okay? You seem...lost” He inquired. </p>
<p>“Ah? Umm yeah, I’m fine, I’m just...I’m just looking for Sasuke and Naruto” She smiled lightly and began to walk again.</p>
<p>“Oh is that it? I saw them two days ago” He said giving her that strange smile of his.</p>
<p>“What?” She stopped on her tracks and rushed back to Sai. “Where??”.</p>
<p>“Well...”</p>
<p>She was losing her patience so she grabbed his hand and shook it lightly. “Sai! Where??”.</p>
<p>“I ran into them and they seemed a little off, they just said hi and then went to a bar” Sai told her, with what looked like concern but she wasn’t sure.</p>
<p>“A bar? Are you sure?”.</p>
<p>“Yes, I can show you where if you want to” He offered politely.</p>
<p>“Oh Kami, yes please Sai! Thank you!”.</p>
<p>Sai began to lead her to the bar without saying another word, which she was really thankful for because she had a lot to take in. ‘<em>A bar? But why? They don’t drink and why would they go there after a mission?’</em> A thousand questions were running through her head without any answer that satisfied her. Either way, that didn’t matter much anymore because she was determined to get some answers from that place and possibly the next location they could be. </p>
<p>“There, that’s where I saw them entering” Sai said getting her out of her musings.</p>
<p>They were in front of a door, a quite old door that had a small placard hanging on the top of it that indicated the place was a tavern. A pretty cheap one by the looks of it, also it read that they were open every hour of every day. ‘<em>That’s rich, who would want to spend more than an hour in this place?</em>’ She thought as she kept glaring holes at the decadent place. </p>
<p>“Do you want me to go in there with you?” Sai asked her and she nodded thankful. </p>
<p>The moment she set foot inside, she was greeted by the bitter smell of strong alcohol, probably sake, reaching her nostrils and making her eyes water. The place was rather small and it barely had any lights. A bartender nodded in their direction but she ignored him, trying to search the whole place with her eyes. There wasn’t many people there, just five people including the bartender. One guy was nursing a drink by the bar, another was literally downing an entire bottle in a table near the entry of the tavern...at noon, and there were two passed out guys in a table at the far corner of the place. She was about to go to the bartender to ask him some questions when she took a better look at the two fainted men. One was blond and the other had raven hair. </p>
<p>‘<em>No way, there is no way those two..’</em></p>
<p>She didn’t want to believe what was clearly there as she was getting close to the pair. The first thing she took notice was that there were a large amount of empty bottles on the table they were in as well on the floor near them, an alarming amount of bottles. The second thing, was that these men were wearing ANBU’s uniforms. <em>‘It can’t be them, please’. </em>And the third one she took notice once she was basically by their side along with Sai, was that these two were in fact, Naruto and Sasuke, and what was worse, it looked like they were not breathing. </p>
<p>“Sakura...” Sai tried to get her out of the daze she appeared to be in. </p>
<p>“Yeah...yeah I’m fine” She said coming out of it. </p>
<p>Carefully, she stood between Sasuke and Naruto, and began to check up on them. The first thing she did was to check up their pulse, she put her middle and ring finger under their jaws and she had to wait a couple seconds to feel the faint pulse bumping underneath her fingers. They were alive, barely but alive nonetheless so she let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. Next was their breathing, she put the back of her hands near their noses and mouths and waited, after ten seconds she felt their breath, it was shallow and and slow but it was there. Doing this she noticed how cold they were and how their skin was clammy and acquiring a bluish color on some parts. She tried patting them on their faces and shaking them but she got no response.</p>
<p>‘<em>Fuck</em>’. </p>
<p>She blanched at this but at the same time, something inside her snapped. For the last couple years she had been working on her temper and she had actually improved quite a lot, managing to keep it at bay, especially with people who didn’t deserve it (these were mostly Naruto and Sasuke of course) but in that exact second, she felt like murdering someone. She knew she was running out of time but she needed to teach a lesson. </p>
<p>She straightened herself and stormed towards the bartender. Once in front of him, she grabbed him by the shirt, both fists clenched around the fabric to get him closer to her face, then she spoke dangerously low.</p>
<p>“Are you stupid?”.</p>
<p>“Um...” The poor guy was at lost for words.</p>
<p>“Do you have some sort of mental issue?” She continued, hissing.</p>
<p>“I-I...”</p>
<p>“Because that’s the only possible explanation as to why on fucking earth would you keep serving drinks to someone who is <em>clearly</em> drunk enough”.</p>
<p>“But-“.</p>
<p>“AND on the top of that, to not fucking call for help once they passed out and stopped fucking moving for two fucking days!” She yelled at him.</p>
<p>“Sakura”.</p>
<p>Sai called her and she turned her head for a moment to see that he was already carrying Naruto on his back. ‘<em>Priorities, right’</em> she needed to get them medical attention. She turned her attention back to the bartender. </p>
<p>“You ever do that again, to them or to anyone else for that matter, I’m going to burn this place to the ground and then I’m going to make you wish you haven’t been born at all”.</p>
<p>The man visibly paled.</p>
<p>“Did I make myself clear?” She asked through clenched teeth. </p>
<p>“Y-yes”.</p>
<p>“Good”.</p>
<p>She threw him against the wall, hard enough to make the glass ledges shake letting a few bottles fall on the ground and shatter. She then went to where Sasuke was slumped on his chair and as gently as she could, she put him on her back just the way Sai did with Naruto. As soon as she did this, she had to gather all her self control to not gag because in the position she currently had Sasuke, his face was mere inches away from her head so she could smell his breath, which reeked of alcohol and quite possibly vomit since she was sure they had both thrown up at least once by now. Once she was ready, she turned to Sai.</p>
<p>“Alright, let’s go”.</p>
<p>They left immediately as quickly as they could having in mind they were carrying unconscious people on their backs. During all the way to the hospital, Sakura kept thinking about everything that happened to that very moment. The main issue was to know why on earth they would do something like this, basically almost try to kill themselves, this wasn’t like them at all. Also she couldn’t help to keep noticing small but disturbing details like the fact that if they still had their uniforms and Sai saw them enter that shitty hellhole two days ago, it meant they never actually left the place until she found them and that worried her to no end. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Hidden Truths</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The very moment they bursted through the hospital doors, she began yelling orders.</p><p>“I need two stretchers right away!”.</p><p>Just as she finished saying the last word, there were already four nurses rushing to them with two stretchers. Sai and her put the boys on it and then she began making her way with the nurses to a private area, giving indications as she checked their pulses and breathing again. </p><p>“Two males, 20 years old with alcohol poisoning. Around 10 breaths and 55 beats per minute. Possible hypothermia and coma”.</p><p>Two nurses began checking the men’s pupils, then one of them asked.</p><p>“Treatment?”.</p><p>“I’m certain they must have thrown up at some point but we’ll have to make a gastric lavage to make sure. Afterward prepare an IV coctel with dextrose at 50% and saline. Have ready some vitamin B next. Also let’s provide them some oxygen just in case”.</p><p>“Hai, Sakura-san!”.</p><p>The next hour or so happened in a blur for Sakura as she helped the nurses with Sasuke and Naruto. While their stomachs were being pumped, they started gaining back some of their consciousness so they had to be sedated in order to avoid them getting hurt during the process. After this, and once they were cleaned up, they were put on the recovery room with their respective IV fluid treatment.</p><p>She found herself seated in a chair by their beds, observing them. They looked rather peaceful, their chest were moving up and down with cables attached to them going to monitors that displayed their rhythmic heartbeats. If she had been a few hours later, those beats would surely be a flatline now. ‘<em>Idiots, what were you thinking’</em> she felt tears pricking on her eyes at just the thought of having been too late. </p><p>After some time of thinking it through, she got up and left their room. She needed answers and first one was to know what kind of mission they were doing because this happened after they came back from that, and she happened to know just the <em>right</em> person for that answer. </p>
<hr/><p>Kakashi was finishing up some of the paperwork he had refused to do a few days ago and that now he had to do with twice the amount he had before. Karma was a real bitch sometimes. He didn’t have the time to finish sulking about his bad luck when someone slammed shut the door of his office for the second time that day and he just knew who it was. Sighing, he looked up to find a quite upset pink haired medic. </p><p>“Sakura-chan, what brings you here ag-“</p><p>“They are in the hospital” She said suspiciously calm.</p><p>Kakashi stiffened. “They were fine when they left....why?”.</p><p>“Alcohol poisoning. They nearly killed themselves by drinking in a shitty bar”.</p><p>He seemed to relax a little. “Maybe it was an accident Sakura, I’m sure they didn’t me-“</p><p>“You’re missing the point!” </p><p>She raised her voice for a moment clenching her fists, clearly angry at the man before her. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. He didn’t have the fault. </p><p>“You know them almost as well as I do Kakashi, you know they don’t drink, hell, even <em>I</em> drink more than they do!” She said a little exasperated. </p><p>Kakashi seemed to think about it better and then sighed. “I guess you’re right, but what can I do?”.</p><p>The anger in her eyes ebbed leaving place to something that looked like sheepishness. She looked away for a moment, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, before making up her mind. </p><p>“What kind of mission did you send them to do?”.</p><p>“Sakura...you know that’s classified, even when I trust you, I can’t share that information”.</p><p>“Kakashi-Sensei...please, just tell me the basics” She pleaded him.</p><p>“Sakura...” He shook his head.</p><p>“If I had been late just a couple hours, th-“ She choked on her words. “They would have died. I-I need to know what they were doing so I can understand and...and help them”.</p><p>Tears were glistening at the brim of her eyes and he couldn’t take it. He loved his students, he considered them family so he couldn’t take when any of them were hurting or in trouble...besides, he just wasn’t in the mood to deal with Sakura in that particular moment since he knew she could be as stubborn as the other two. He rubbed a hand across his face.</p><p>“It was a basic mission, they were just gathering some intel from a region close to Takigakure near the border of the Land of Fire”.</p><p>She was bewildered. “J-just that?”.</p><p>“Yes”.</p><p>“But wait, couldn’t you just send a chunin to do that? I mean, Sasuke and Naruto are ANBU and they are, well, <em>them</em>. That’s a bit of a waste” She scrunched her nose.</p><p>“There’s been some...suspicious activity around that area that we needed to check and it required the best team we had” He stated flatly.</p><p>“What kind of activity?” She inquired.</p><p>“That’s cla-“</p><p>“Classified, I get it” She snorted, rolling her eyes. </p><p>“All I can tell you is that the mission went well and their report was filled with the usual, nothing out of the ordinary”.</p><p>“I see...” She said, closing her eyes.</p><p>“They seemed quite tense that day but they were fine kid, maybe the just needed to relax a little” He offered trying to make her feel better. </p><p>“Yeah, maybe it was that” She gave him a fake smile. </p><p>“So, we’re okay?” He questioned. </p><p>“Sure, thank you for your time Kakashi-Sensei”.</p><p>She slightly bowed and left the Hokage’s office, not feeling at all satisfied with the conversation with the gray haired man. </p>
<hr/><p>The first thing that reached Sasuke’s consciousness was the nagging sound of a constant beeping, followed by the distinguished smell of antiseptics and disinfectant. Without having to open his eyes, he came to the conclusion that he was in the hospital. Quickly a train of thought began to form: If he was at he hospital then it was likely that Naruto was probably there too, and If they were at the hospital that meant either Sakura found them and brought them there or someone else found them and brought them there, and it didn’t really matter how they got there because in any of those scenarios it meant Sakura <em>knew</em> they were at the hospital and that they were there because they probably went a little too far with the drinking yesterday...or was it the day before yesterday?.</p><p>A few minutes after Sasuke began rethinking about his life choices, a blond idiot sleeping in the bed beside him, started to take in his surroundings. First he listened the beeping sound coming to one side of him and then he opened his eyes to a white room. He figured he was in the hospital and if he was there, then Sakura knew he was there and if he was there, then Sasuke was there too and if they were there with Sakura knowing this, then both of them were <em>screwed</em>. He took a quick glance at Sasuke, who in that moment decided to do the same, and then a silent agreement happened between both men: they needed to get out of that place. Now.</p><p>They both seated rather quickly and both regretted that decision just as quickly. They were having the worst headache they could remember and felt quite dizzy as well. Naruto lifted his hands to hold his head and Sasuke began to move a hand to the IV tubes coming from his other arm, determined to rip them off. However, while all of this happened, they both failed to see the unamused medic who was staring at them from a chair by the window. </p><p>“I <em>strongly</em> recommend you <em>not</em> to do what you are thinking of doing <em>unless</em> you both want to stay in this hospital a whole week for an entirely different reason of your current one”.</p><p>Her voice, despite being low and almost hissed, echoed through the entire room with a menacing tone just in the moment when Sasuke’s hand was on the IV tube and Naruto’s was making its way towards it. Upon hearing her voice, both men looked at her. Naruto gulped and Sasuke rolled his eyes inwardly. </p><p>“S-Sakura-chan...”</p><p>“Sakura”.</p><p>Their voices came out hoarse and just then, they noticed a not so subtle burning on their throats. Sasuke tried to clear it out and soon proved it to be a bad idea, unconsciously lifting his hand to touch his throat. </p><p>“That will hurt for a couple days. It usually happens when you have to force a tube down somebody’s throat  and lavage their stomach to prevent them from dying of intoxication” She said dryly.</p><p>“Shouldn’t we be given painkillers or something then?” Sasuke asked annoyed.</p><p>“Hmm I think I forgot” She replied sarcastically. </p><p>“You <em>forgot</em>?” Sasuke glowered at her.</p><p>“Yes, just like you both fucking forgot to let me know you had arrived from your mission, went straight to a shitty bar to drown yourselves in alcohol and had me worrying for you for two fucking days!” She yelled at them, standing up from her chair.</p><p>Naruto flinched at her words, ashamed, while Sasuke remained completely blank. In reality he felt considerably bad too but he refused to show any signs of it. </p><p>“Are neither of you going to say anything?” She hissed but did her best to calm herself down. </p><p><em>Silence</em>.</p><p>Naruto was refusing to meet her gaze while Sasuke only managed to keep glaring at her for a few seconds before dropping it and looking the other way. </p><p>“Do you both understand the severity of what you did?” Her voice was lower, but it still had anger burning in every word. “If I hadn’t found you when I did, cold and barely breathing, then you would have d-“.</p><p>She couldn’t continue, her voice caught up in her throat and her eyes began to blur with tears. All the anger she was feeling slowly ebbed as she pictured their cold, unmoving bodies, laying lifelessly on the morgue. She couldn’t imagine losing any of them, let alone losing both at the same time, she wouldn’t survive. She slumped on the chair and buried her face in her hands, her body trembling with soft whimpers. </p><p>Sasuke and Naruto exchanged looks, guilt hitting harder than before. Neither of them meant for this to happen, they didn’t want to hurt her and make her cry. Naruto wanted to get up and hug her but he knew better than to do so and risk getting her mad at him again. Sasuke felt uncomfortable, he might’ve made her cry countless of times before, but now he hated being the reason for her tears. </p><p>“We are sorry Sakura-chan” Naruto tried, knowing Sasuke wouldn’t say anything. </p><p>After a minute of silence, she lifted her head and stared at them with tears still rolling down her face.</p><p>“Why did you do it?” She asked lowly.</p><p>They tensed. They knew she was going to ask, it was obvious, but even having this knowledge, they really didn’t think of a reasonable answer for her. Sasuke still managed to keep up his blank expression, he wasn’t going to say anything because she always caught their lies so it would be a waste of time. Naruto on the other hand wasn’t that smart just yet, he scratched the back of his neck a kind of looked to Sakura’s direction with a sheepish grin on his face.</p><p>“We-we just wanted to relax a little Sakura-chan, I guess we just lost track of time...and drinks” He lied blatantly. </p><p>“That’s a lie” She said flatly.</p><p>“It is not!” Naruto complained.</p><p>“Yes it is! That’s bullshit and you know it because <em>you</em> don’t like the taste” She said pointing at Naruto and then pointed at Sasuke. “And <em>you</em> think it’s stupid!”.</p><p>“That’s not t-“.</p><p>“Naruto...<em>don’t</em>” She threatened.</p><p>“But”.</p><p>“Shut up Naruto” Sasuke intervened.</p><p>She turned to him. “And you? What are you going to say?”.</p><p>“Nothing” He deadpanned. </p><p>She sighed. “Can’t you really just tell me why?”.</p><p><em>Silence</em>.</p><p>“Did something happen on that mission to make you do this?” She tried again.</p><p>They just stared at her without saying a word.</p><p>“<em>Please</em>, I just want to understand...to help you” She pleaded them.</p><p>Naruto moved on his bed, uncomfortable, while Sasuke just sighed and closed his eyes. Neither of them were enjoying this and it was pretty clear neither of them was going to talk either. </p><p>“You know I love you both right? More than anything” She began gently, searching for their eyes to look at her. “That’s fine you don’t have to tell me, but whatever it was, you know I’m here for you, whatever it happened we can solve it together”.</p><p>Both were looking at her, Naruto seemed to be ashamed and Sasuke, well, he was being Sasuke, but there was a glint of something in his dark eyes. She stood up and went to them, placing herself in the middle of their beds. </p><p>“J-just...promise me you won’t ever do this again, please” She basically begged, not wanting to look at them in the eye. “At least not while I am breathing”.</p><p>Because she was looking at the floor, she couldn’t see the way Naruto winced or how Sasuke clenched his fists around the sheets of his bed, a hint of hurt crossing both of their faces at the last thing she had said. Nonetheless, once she gathered the determination to look at them, there were no traces of that ever happening. </p><p>“Please” She asked in a whisper with watery eyes. </p><p>“I promise” Naruto mumbled after what felt like an eternity. </p><p>She then turned to look at Sasuke, whom just huffed annoyed but nodded anyway in a silent promise.</p><p>“Thank you” She smiled softly.</p><p>She moved towards Naruto and hugged him, letting him embrace her for a moment. When she pulled away, she placed one hand on the side of his head and the other on the side of his neck, after a moment, her hands began to glow green while she planted a small kiss on his forehead. Once done, she went to Sasuke and hugged him too. He didn’t hug her back but he let himself bury his face on the crook of her neck, breathing in her soothing scent. She pulled away and did the same she did with Naruto before, finishing her job with a small kiss on the raven haired man’s forehead. </p><p>“How do you feel?” She asked.</p><p>“Way better! Thank you Sakura-chan!” Naruto beamed at her.</p><p>“Thank you” Sasuke nodded. </p><p>“You are not allowed to leave until tomorrow so I would recommend you to get comfortable and not to do anything you will regret” She smiled kind of evilly. </p><p>“But we’re fine!” Naruto protested.</p><p>Sakura just glared menacingly at him. “I have to go to check up on some patients but I’ll be back later”.</p><p>She smiled at them and then left the room, closing the door behind her. Both men just let out a long breath, calming themselves. The worst part was over, thankfully she wouldn’t ask them anything else. Naruto glanced at Sasuke and raised an eyebrow, Sasuke looked at him and just shook his head, rolling his eyes. Suddenly, their door opened again and Sakura’s form appeared.</p><p>“Also, you better get some rest because payback time is around the corner and you have a lot to pay for” She said excitedly. </p><p>With that, she left them alone again, wondering if what they did was really worth the trouble, but as a dark memory played itself on their minds, the answer to that question became closer to: <em>that wasn’t enough.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Broken Promise #1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Two months had passed since she had found them nearly dead and they had promised not to ever do that to her again. They were keeping that promise well enough and everything had been normal for the three of them...or as normal as it could be with Naruto and Sasuke almost being Sakura’s servants. This little inconvenient started happening when she discovered she could make them agree or do basically everything that came to her little evil mind when she pulled out the “you had me worried sick for two days and nearly died leaving me alone” card to make them feel guilty. </p><p>“<em>Annoying</em> woman”.</p><p>Sasuke panted hitting fifteen targets at the same time with his shuriken a little harder than necessary. Then he proceeded to burn them all with his great fireball jutsu. Thankfully enough, he was just outside the village’s walls so he wouldn’t harm anyone.</p><p>It wasn’t a secret that Sasuke was in a foul mood. Actually he had been like this for the last three days, more specifically since certain annoying woman left the damn village to go on a mission. It was absurd to say the least, she had stopped going to field missions a while ago and only went when it was strictly necessary. So when Shikamaru Nara appeared to them saying he needed her to be in the mission, Naruto and him had to restrain themselves from almost beating the hell out of him. </p><p>According to the lazy bastard, the client of the mission he was in charge of, had asked them to bring their best medic and at this point everyone knew Sakura had surpassed Tsunade quite a while ago. Of course once Kakashi gave the order to take Sakura with them, Sasuke and Naruto had a few...complaints, which included threats and in last instance, demanding to be assigned to said mission. A request that was denied since the team was complete. Sakura had to excuse them and drag them out of the Hokage’s office to avoid them being put in prison for insubordination. </p><p>Despite all their efforts, at the end, Sakura left the village with Shikamaru and two other jounins leaving Sasuke and Naruto with forehead kiss and the promise that nothing would happen. Since then, everyone knew better than to cross his path, doing their best to avoid the last Uchiha. Naruto had a slightly better mood but only a little, so just like everyone did with Sasuke, most people tried not to test his patience. Even when people did this, it took everyone quite by surprise this kind of behavior coming from them because they had never done such a thing, even Sakura was bewildered after the spectacle they did at Kakashi’s office but no one said a word.</p><p>Once Sasuke was done venting his frustrations with training, he began to make his way back to the village so he and Naruto could wait for Sakura, who was supposed to arrive at some time that day. He was nearly reaching the village’s gates, jumping from branch to branch when he felt other presences a few miles behind him. He stopped on a low branch and listened as the others approached.</p><p>“She’s not looking good” A man said with clear concern.</p><p>“She’s losing too much blood” Another one said.</p><p>“Just shut up and hurry up” A voice he knew too well commanded. </p><p>The voice of Shikamaru Nara. </p><p>He wasn’t sure in which moment he began to move, but the next thing he knew was that he was almost flying in the direction of the voices. A few moments later, with a graceful movement, he landed in front of the black haired jounin, stopping everyone on their tracks. He was glaring holes at the team captain but as soon as his eyes found their way to his familiar pink head, all the color drained from his face. </p><p>“What the hell happened?” He mumbled without noticing he said it out loud.</p><p>He was having trouble breathing and his whole world was spinning mercilessly while he tried processing the view he had in front of his eyes. For starters, Sakura wasn’t standing alongside her teammates like she should but was laying limply on the back of an unknown shinobi to Sasuke. That would have been fine if it wasn’t for the blood. The horrible amount of blood that seemed to be everywhere: soaking Sakura’s uniform as well as of the one carrying her, dripping from one side of her forehead, coming out of her nose and mouth, sliding down her arm that seemed to be broken in several parts, welling from a huge gash that went from her back to some point on her abdomen and from other lacerations she had across her entire body. </p><p>To be completely honest, he would have thrown up at that sight if he wasn’t whom he was, his pride not allowing him to lose more the composure he had already lost. He quickly recovered and new anger exploded within him because when Sakura was looking like that, none of her other teammates appeared to be nearly as bad as she was, minor cuts and bruises being the only thing he could see in them. He grabbed Shikamaru by the collar of his vest.</p><p>“How on fucking earth is she looking like <em>that</em> and the rest of you have barely a scratch” He asked through gritted teeth.</p><p>“Let me go Uchiha” Shikamaru said flatly, seemingly unfazed by the threat Sasuke represented.</p><p>“Give me just one reason not to kill all of you in this fucking moment” He hissed dangerously, his eyes turning red. </p><p>Shikamaru just glared at him without saying anything. After a few seconds, Sasuke tossed him to the ground, grabbed Sakura from the other jounin’s back in a bridal style and rushed to the village without saying a word, leaving three scared shinobi behind. </p><p>As trees and then buildings passed in a blur, Sasuke could only think one thing. </p><p>‘<em>This isn’t real, this can’t be real, that was just a genjutsu, it couldn’t be real’.</em></p><p>“Hold on Sakura...please” He muttered in her ear. </p>
<hr/><p>Sasuke was currently leaning against a wall on the waiting room of the hospital. He just didn’t feel like seating on a chair and if he kept passing around, he would only feel more anxious than he already felt. It had been an hour since he had brought Sakura to the hospital and they had taken her to the operating room. </p><p>He was about to melt down the clock hanging from the wall at his side, when the doors of the waiting room bursted open and Naruto rushed in, yelling frantically.</p><p>“Where’s she?! Is she okay?!”.</p><p>Sasuke took a deep breath and went towards Naruto. “Shut up dobe, she’s inside”.</p><p>He nodded his head in the direction of the doors guiding towards the operating room and put a hand on Naruto’s shoulder, trying to comfort him somehow. </p><p>“Wh-what happened? Where are the others? I’m going to <em>murder</em> them” He grunted. </p><p>Sasuke smirked at this. At least he wouldn’t be alone if he decided to murder the inepts that let Sakura get this injured. Still, he really didn’t have the chance to say anything to the blond because in that moment someone else entered the waiting room. Both men turned to see the new arrival, and once they saw who it was, only a fool would have missed the murderous auras emanating from them. </p><p>“Shikamaru!” Naruto yelled and strode towards the jounin captain, grabbing him by the vest just like Sasuke did before. “What <em>the fuck</em> happened?”.</p><p>The black haired man just huffed and rolled his eyes. Truth be told, he was scared, he would have to be stupid not to be scared by two ridiculously powerful shinobi like Sasuke and Naruto were, but since he grew up with them, he refused to show these two idiots how scary they actually were. </p><p>“So troublesome Naruto, <em>please,</em> take your hands off of me” Shikamaru put a hand above Naruto’s hand and the latter let him go.</p><p>“How the hell was Sakura the only one to end up inside an operating room?” Naruto asked still dangerously close to Shikamaru. </p><p>“Yeah, that’s the key word in this because she was the <em>only</em> one to be attacked” Shikamaru retorted, clearly annoyed, shoving pass Naruto.</p><p>Naruto and Sasuke paled and looked at each other, a mix of concern and surprise written on their faces. Shikamaru stood by the window of the waiting room and let out an exhausted sigh, then he faced the two perplexed men. </p><p>“Look, I might not be as close to Sakura as you two are but she’s still my friend and I care for her” He began dryly but then anger sparked in him. “I’m angry too, none of this should’ve happened but everything happened too fast”.</p><p>“What happened?” Sasuke asked, losing the little patience he had left.</p><p>“We were on our way back here, when someone appeared right beside Sakura out of the blue and just like he appeared, he disappeared again with her in the thin air” He explained rubbing a hand on his face. “Nobody sensed whoever that was, it was like he didn’t even had chakra”.</p><p>“And why didn’t you go after her??” Naruto asked angrily. </p><p>“You seriously think that wasn’t the first thing I tried to do Naruto?!” Shikamaru nearly yelled at him. “As soon as they disappeared, a bunch of missing-nin attacked us and didn’t let us leave the place”.</p><p>“Did you recognize who they were?” Sasuke inquired.</p><p>“We couldn’t, they didn’t have a forehead protector to identify their village but they were skilled. They maintained us busy there for a while and then just left” The jounin said, clenching his fists.</p><p>“And then??” Naruto asked impatiently. </p><p>“Then I tracked Sakura and when we got to her, she was already like this and she wasn’t healing herself” He finished, slumping on a nearby chair. </p><p>The three of them stayed there, in a tense silence, each of them trying to make sense of what had happened. The ticking of the clock was nearly driving them insane when Tsunade got out of the operating area with an expression neither of them could figure out. </p><p>“How’s she??” Naruto was the first one to get up from the chair and nearly run into the medic.</p><p>She sighed and waited for the three of them to be in front of her.</p><p>“She’s stable. Aside from all the bruises and superficial lacerations she had over her entire body, she also had a concussion, her left arm was broken in the humerus and the radius, three broken ribs that caused lung puncture, several internal bleeding and a twisted ankle”.</p><p>Sasuke and Shikamaru gulped, while Naruto paled considerably since he was the only one who didn’t get to see her before she arrived to the hospital. Sasuke was the first one to speak.</p><p>“How? I mean, I thought she could heal herself instantly” He frowned.</p><p>“Well that’s actually the alarming part of this” She said furrowing her eyebrows and lifting a piece of paper she had on her hand. “When we did the toxicology, we found some sort of chakra suppressant on her system but we couldn’t figure out the nature of it as there were only traces of it by the time we did it. Didn’t you get to see anything Shikamaru?”.</p><p>The Nara clenched his jaw. “No, that bastard just took Sakura and disappeared. I couldn’t see if he did something to her before that”.</p><p>“My best guess is that whoever attacked her, must have injected her before they started fighting so she wouldn’t be able to defend or heal herself, but we will know for sure once she wakes up” She said, running a hand through her hair. </p><p>“Can we go to see her?” Naruto pleaded with puppy eyes.</p><p>Tsunade sighed. “She’s sedated and will probably wake up in a few hours, but I guess you can go and wait in her room”.</p><p>She then turned and went through the doors she had previously come out from, but before any of the men could move, her voice reached them again.</p><p>“Only two”.</p><p>The three of them looked at each other. Shikamaru shook his head and turned towards the exit of the waiting room. </p><p>“You two go in” He began to walk but then stopped for a moment. “Just let me know when she wakes up, please”.</p><p>“Sure” Naruto said.</p><p>After that, the Nara was gone and both of them looked at each other before going through the same doors as Tsunade. They walked through a sea of white doors and walls, and after a few turns, the blond medic appeared before them pointing to a door on her right. They must’ve been looking miserable because as Tsunade was leaving, she put a hand on a shoulder of both men. </p><p>“She’s going to be alright”.</p><p>With that, she left them alone to enter Sakura’s room. Following a moment of nervous hesitation, Naruto opened the door with Sasuke just beside him. They couldn’t fully enter because somehow their feet were glued to the entry. It wasn’t as if they were afraid of hospitals rooms or something, if anything, they were quite used to be in that place, either as patients or just visiting Sakura. It was usual for them to be at the other end of where they were standing in that moment, always the ones to be laying on those sickening white beds, but it never crossed their minds, not even once, they would be seeing Sakura laying so lifelessly on one of said beds. </p><p>After a few seconds of gathering themselves together, they fully entered the room and closed the door. Each of them grabbed a chair (there were two something that was rather odd but they didn’t put much thought to it), Naruto put it on the right side of Sakura’s bed and Sasuke on her left side, and then they seated there, observing. They had cleaned her, washed her hair and put her in a hospital gown, Sasuke also noted that most if not all of the wounds littering her body had been healed, leaving her creamy white skin unscathed. A few tubes were coming out of her arm and a monitor by her bed was signaling the steady beat of her heart. Despite that, she looked so small, pale and fragile, like if she could break by just blowing on her, it just seemed wrong. She wasn’t fragile nor weak. </p><p>Naruto buried his head on his hands, guilt washing over him. ‘<em>I should have gone with her, I shouldn’t have listened to anyone and go to that stupid mission anyways’</em> he kept beating himself. After what they had seen, what <em>he</em> had seen, it was unforgivable he had let her go without him to that mission. He couldn’t lose her because if he did he didn’t think he would survive it. </p><p>Sasuke stared at her, anger and remorse glimmering on his dark eyes. ‘<em>I shouldn’t have let her go on that damn mission, I should have locked her out in some room or use a genjutsu, anything but let her out of my sight’</em> he thought, cursing himself and everything. After what that man showed them, how he could had been so stupid to let her go without him or at least the dobe. He should have protected her and he failed miserably, if he lost her too...no. He won’t lose her, he can’t. Almost unconsciously, his hand made its way to her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. </p><p>Both kept blaming themselves on their own way, beating themselves for allowing Sakura to get injured right under their noses, but at the same time both were making a silent promise. </p><p>‘<em>This won’t happen again, even if I have to give my life for it’.</em></p><p>The night passed and they fell asleep on those chairs. At some point, Naruto had grabbed Sakura’s other hand and fallen asleep resting his head on her bed. While Sasuke on her other side, was dozing off with his head resting on his hand. </p><p>The sun was rising up in the horizon when Sakura’s eyes fluttered and slowly opened. She didn’t really needed to open them to know that she was in the hospital, the whole place just felt familiar for her. She was about to move when she realized she wasn’t alone, and once she saw Naruto and Sasuke, her heart just melted. She smiled sweetly at both of her boys and just stared at them, enjoying the sight of them looking so peacefully asleep by her side. </p><p>They must have sensed her being awake because not long after, both of them woke up. As soon as Naruto opened his eyes and focused them on Sakura’s face, he jumped from his chair and basically threw himself at her, nearly ripping of all the cables attached to her. </p><p>“Don’t ever do this to us again” He said in her ear and then buried his face on her hair.</p><p>“Naruto...I can’t breath” She mumbled with strangled voice.</p><p>“Sorry” He said pulling away from her and scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. </p><p>She then turned to Sasuke, who was watching the whole scene from his chair. When her eyes landed on his, he leaned towards her without breaking eye contact and with a gentleness she didn’t know he had, he carefully pushed a string of hair behind her ear. His hand lingered for a moment on her cheek before he pulled it away, speaking softly.</p><p>“You scared us”.</p><p>He admitted it so lowly, she thought for a second she had imagined it but the look of hurt and concern that crossed his face in that moment, told her otherwise. She was at lost for words, Sasuke would never admit something like this but a look at Naruto made her rethink that, because his eyes were watery. Both were scared, they had been genuinely terrified of losing her. </p><p>“Boys, I’m fine now, there’s nothing to be worried about” She tried to soothe them. </p><p>Sadly, those words did nothing to wipe away the concern and now....anger? Present in their faces. Sasuke got up and went to the window.</p><p>“What happened?” He demanded.</p><p>Even when she was taken aback by his sudden change, she began to recall. “Everything happened so fast, I just couldn’t-“.</p><p>She shook her head, trying to remember everything that happened but there were blank parts all over her memory. Still she did her best to try and gather something coherent.</p><p>“One moment, someone appeared beside me when we were heading back and grabbed me, injecting something on my neck, and the next, I was landing on the ground on a completely different place. I tried to gather some chakra but it was useless, it was like trying to pull goo through a small tube, besides I’m sure I must  have gotten a concussion with the fall and I could feel my arm broken”. </p><p>“Did you see who it was?” Sasuke asked facing her. </p><p>“No, he or she was wearing a blank mask” She replied.</p><p>“What happened next?”.</p><p>“He began to attack me...or was it them? I-I can’t recall if there were more or he was just moving incredibly fast but I was being attacked from every angle. I tried to shield myself, to attack, to do <em>something</em> but without my chakra and the general confusion that came with the concussion, it was pretty pointless”.</p><p>“And then?” Naruto inquired.</p><p>“And then I don’t remember much. He or they just kept attacking me and at some point I guess I just lost consciousness” She explained, clenching her fists around the fabric of the sheets, her eyes fixed on her lap.</p><p>After a moment of silence where no one said a word, she lifted her eyes and looked at them. Naruto was leaned against the back of his chair, his gaze lost, while Sasuke was leaned against the wall in front of her with his eyes closed.</p><p>“Is something wrong?” She asked, studying them.</p><p>None of them said a word.</p><p>“Boys?” She called. </p><p>Sasuke opened his eyes in that moment and looked at her. His eyes were staring directly into her soul and there was a hint of fatality in them.</p><p>“You are not going on any more missions” He stated dryly.</p><p>“I’m sorry, what?” She said a little shocked at the sudden statement.</p><p>“You won’t go to any more missions and that’s final”.</p><p>“And just who do you think you are to forbid me things?” She asked, starting to feel a little irritated. </p><p>“Sakura-chan, it’s better this way” Naruto tried to soothe the tense atmosphere. </p><p>“No, Naruto” She said in an icy voice. “You both get hurt all the time during missions and I don’t go around prohibiting you to do anything, even when I’m the one who’s always patching you up”.</p><p>“That’s different” Sasuke grunted.</p><p>“It’s not, the three of us are shinobi of this village and this is our job” She continued.</p><p>She opened her mouth to say something else but closed again as she noticed the small exchange of looks they made with something close to...<em>fear</em>. That’s when it hit her and her mind started connecting the dots: everything started with them nearly drinking themselves to death. After that, they had been different, she wasn’t sure how but they were, and they had been more overprotective with her than usual, explaining that little scene they pulled off when she had to go to this mission. And now, here they were, worried sick about her and forbidding her to do things.</p><p>“You two know something I ignore, don’t you?” She asked calmly looking at both men.</p><p>They both visibly tensed at her statement but neither said a word. </p><p>She shook her head lightly, a sad smile forming on her lips. “I’ve known you both since we were 12 years old, I know when you lie, when you’re feeling sad or angry, when you’re hiding something from me and this whole thing began after <em>that</em> mission, so what is it?”.</p><p>At this point, both of them knew it was pointless to either lie to her or keep quiet. They <em>had</em> to tell her. They exchanged one last look of knowledge and then Sasuke let out an exhausted sigh.</p><p>“That day, when we finished our mission and we were about to come back, someone appeared before us. We really couldn’t tell who it was because he was hooded but after just a few seconds everything around us began to shift” He began to remember, clenching his fists. “I’m not really sure what it was but it had to be a genjutsu and he was so fast I couldn’t even tell with my sharingan in which moment he did it...or how to end it”.</p><p>Sakura gulped. “What did you see?”.</p><p>“It was you” Naruto said with a gloomy expression. “He showed us you after what seemed like a mission because you were wearing your uniform. You were injured, pretty injured, you had stabs all over your body that didn’t stop bleeding and then you d-“.</p><p>Naruto couldn’t continue, there was a slight tremble in his voice. Sakura tried to reach his hand but before she could do it, Sasuke began to talk.</p><p>“Then you died, in our arms, over and over again, always telling us that it was okay and that you loved us. He showed us different scenarios where we got to you sooner but your death remained the same every time. We could never save you, no matter what we did or how fast we ran, each time you would die with a smile on your lips”. </p><p>While he talked, he had moved to the window, his back to her, and when he finished, she could see he was slightly trembling. However, she couldn’t tell if it was out of anger, fear or something else. Before she could say anything, Naruto spoke by her side.</p><p>“We don’t know how much time we were in that...thing, because just as it started, it disappeared, along with the hooded man”.</p><p>“Wait, didn’t someone attack you while you were in it? Or after?” She asked bewildered.</p><p>“No” Sasuke turned to her. “I guess it was enough for him to burn that memory into our minds”.</p><p>He and Naruto looked at each other for a moment, then Naruto began to talk again.</p><p>“During our way back, we couldn’t think of anything else, it felt so real we just kept seeing it with our eyes open” He said, looking at her. “W-we didn’t mean for what happened in the bar but after we got here, we just kept seeing you...dying and we-“.</p><p>“We needed to forget, for a moment at least” Sasuke finished for him.</p><p>Sakura didn’t know what to say next. That...<em>that</em> explained a lot, and she wasn’t sure what she would have done if the roles were reversed. She looked at them. Naruto was still siting by her side but his face had a darkness in it she hadn’t seen before and it seemed so out of place, it physically pained her to look at him. Sasuke was standing in front of her bed and even though he had his usual blank expression, she could see the fear and horror on his eyes. She knew of all the people both of them had lost over the years: their families, friends, mentors, and she also knew that now, she was basically all they had left. Sure, they had other friends and people who cared about them, but it wasn’t the same. They loved her more than anything and she loved them just the same.  </p><p>“I...why didn’t you tell me this before?” She asked with sad eyes.</p><p>“And tell you what? That some creep showed us your death a thousand times and that left us scared enough to not let you out of the damn village?” Sasuke said sarcastically. </p><p>“I could have understood Sasuke...” She retorted, staring at him.</p><p>“Sure, because you were taking so well what I told you a few minutes ago about not going to more missions” He said flatly.</p><p>“You didn’t explain this to me before” She raised an eyebrow but then shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, I know now and I...I won’t go to any more missions if I can avoid it”.</p><p>Naruto’s face lit up at her statement, he got up from his chair and seated on her bed, he then grabbed her hand in his, caressing the back of it gently.</p><p>“Do you really mean that Sakura?” He asked seriously, looking at her eyes. </p><p>“Yes” She smiled at him, squishing his hand and then looked at Sasuke too. “But you know that was only a genjutsu right? It wasn’t real”.</p><p>Sasuke stared harshly at her for a moment and sighed. He walked up to her bed and seated by her other side, then like he did before, he lightly touched her cheek without taking his eyes off her. </p><p>“Just promise us you won’t leave the village and if you do, it will be with at least one of us” He said, pulling his hand down. </p><p>“I promise” She rolled her eyes playfully. “But you should know, it takes more than a few stabs to kill me”. </p><p>Naruto chuckled and Sasuke smirked. Then both of them got up and began to walk to door.</p><p>“Wait, where are you going?” She asked confused.</p><p>“Oh, we are just going to make sure Kaka-sensei knows about this arrangement” Naruto said happily.</p><p>“You can’t be serious...I literally just promised y-“.</p><p>“It’s just an...insurance” Sasuke supplied.</p><p>“But-“.</p><p>“Besides, payback time is around the corner Sakura-chan” Naruto grinned at her.</p><p>“You two-“ </p><p>She began but they were already gone, leaving her sulking and starting to regret making that promise to those idiots. </p>
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